LEATHER WORKING GROUP - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Senior Operations Manager
Adam Crowe joined LWG in December 2022 with overall responsibility for operations, communications and marketing, and stakeholder engagement.
Adam brings a wealth of operations and business management experience in the Testing, Inspection & Certification sector, working across a number of industries in the UK, Europe and the Middle East.
In his previous roles, Adam has played a significant leadership role in the development and operation of certification schemes, the delivery of numerous process optimisation projects, and the creation of Quality Management Systems.
Job Titles:
- Leather Technologist
- LWG Auditor
Afzal Hossain was approved as an LWG auditor in April 2022. Afzal is a Leather Technologist with over 25 years of experience in the leather industry and a strong technical understanding of the entire supply chain.
As a freelance expert and industry development consultant, he is currently working with Solidaridad Network Asia in Bangladesh to share his extensive understanding of sustainability concerns. He also led various industry research projects with Solidaridad, such as risk and hazard assessments.
Afzal has a BSc in leather technology from the University of Dhaka in Bangladesh, and he also holds a professional certification in a leadership development programme as master trainer course, held by ILO. For the past six years, he has served as vice president of the Leather Engineers and Technologies Society of Bangladesh (LETSB). Afzal is also a certified Lead auditor for ISO 14001:2015.
Alfredo Espantaleon is a leather professional with more than 20 years of experience in several tanneries in Spain, with responsibilities ranging from raw material and chemicals sourcing, to process control and development, from beamhouse to finishing department, from R+D and quality control labs to management of solid wastes and WWTP. He has served in all the critical departments in the technological areas of the tannery.
Alfredo holds a Degree in Chemistry and a Masters in Integrated Management of Quality, Environment and Occupational Health. He is also an expert, at Masters level, in Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility.
Recently, he has obtained an Environmental Lead Auditor qualification, in ISO 14001:2015, recognised by the European Organisation for Quality, and he is LWG Approved Auditor since January 2018.
In the past six years, he has been developing CSR plans and strategies for chemicals producers, as well as consultancy work in an international environment, for tanneries in Russia, Kazakhstan, China and Mongolia.
With more than 15 publications in journals and congresses, he is an active communicator interested in float recycling, waste minimisation, and even in operations research, in order to help make better decisions in the tannery.
To check Alfredo´s availability for an audit, please click the following link to send him an email: a.espantaleon@ipapingenieria.es
Balaji Velu holds a degree in Leather Technology from Anna University, Chennai, India and a Post Graduate Certification in Business Administration from Nottingham Trent University, UK. He has extensive technical and operational experiences in leather manufacturing from beamhouse to finished leather for around 29 years, most of his career living as an expatriate in the South East Asian countries like Indonesia, China, Thailand and Vietnam.
Throughout his career, Balaji has led various sustainability projects such as flesh to fuel, low energy impact machinery studies, process control optimisation for cleaner environment, development of hypo allergenic metal free lining, chrome free water proof leathers, ammonia and pickle free tanning systems, water recycling, water and energy audit programs of the leading European & American brands.
Balaji obtained his CQI IRCA certification in ISO 14001:2015 Lead Auditor qualification to continue his venture in the field of environment and sustainability in leather industry. He became an LWG Approved Auditor as of May 2020.
Job Titles:
- Member of the LWG Executive Committee
Chris holds an MBA from Bradford University, a Nene Certificate in Leather Technology from Northampton (Nene) University and a BSC (Hons) in Applied Chemistry from Nottingham Trent University, all in the UK.
Subsequently, Chris has spent over 30 years in the worldwide leather industry working on a collaborative basis with tanners throughout that time. He has extensive knowledge and experience from his senior level positions held in the prominent specialty chemical companies engaged within the leather industry.
Chris has worked as an expatriate in China, Singapore, Thailand, Germany and Indonesia, and has vast experience in the Asia Pacific markets, Australasia, India, Japan and Korea where he has spent his recent time, as well as Pakistan, South America and Europe from earlier in his career.
He has focused his current attention on using this knowledge for the environmental benefit of the leather industry.
In early 2018, Chris obtained his CQI & IRCA Certified ISO 14001:2015 Environmental Lead Auditor Qualification and he is an approved LWG auditor from January 2019. In November 2022, Chris successfully passed his SMETA Social Systems auditor conversion course.
Job Titles:
- Director of Sustainability
Christina joined Leather Working Group in May 2020, after several years working for adidas in different locations across Europe and Asia.
With a background in Chemical and Sustainable Energy Engineering, Christina has over 15 years of international experience in sustainability, materials sourcing, and fashion.
Job Titles:
- Director of Marketing & Operations
Debbie joined Leather Working Group in June 2023 after working for several years with leather manufacturer Pittards where she headed up marketing for the group activities in the UK and Ethiopia.
Having previously worked in product development and international marketing for brands such as Clark and Timberland, Debbie has a mix of experience that that includes manufacturing, development, and brand strategies.
Debbie also holds the volunteer Chair position with industry not-for-profit, Leather Naturally and is passionate about effecting positive change.
Emma is the LWG Audit Administrator, joining our team in May 2022.
Emma has over 25 years of experience working in administration. Most recently, Emma has spent 16 years working at Eurofins | BLC Leather Technology Centre, where she was responsible for reporting, document management, general administration, and supporting business directors.
At LWG, Emma is responsible for managing the administration related to our certified suppliers in over 50 countries, which includes the delivery of audit reports and certificates, managing certified supplier listings, and more.
Job Titles:
- Diploma Certificated Engineer
- Sustainability Consultant
Jutta Knoedler is a Diploma Certificated Engineer in Chemistry, with Thesis on the University of Stuttgart Institute for Water Quality and Waste Management. With more than 28 year's experience and worldwide consultancy work specialising in tannery environmental issues - like wastewater treatment, waste, energy efficiency, chemicals and air emissions - she is working as General Manager in ITG-Environmental Technology GmbH.
Jutta also works as a tannery sustainability consultant for many national and international organisations like UNIDO, EU (f.e. member of the National Expert Team for BAT-Notes = Best Available Technologies for Tanneries), the Federal Environmental Ministry, Leather associations etc. For that role, she has received several international awards for developing sustainable concepts in tanneries.
Jutta has worked for many years as a registered Auditor for Energy-Efficiency Audits, for ECO 2 L-Audits (CO 2-emission and Energy for Leather) and for LWG Audits. She is also a member of the LWG "Technical Sub-Group" for ongoing development of the LWG audit protocol.To check Jutta's availability for an audit, please click the link here to send Jutta an e-mail: info@itg-gom.de
Job Titles:
- LWG As the Standards & Assurance Coordinator
- Stakeholder Engagement Manager
Marius joined LWG as the Standards & Assurance Coordinator, working within the Operations Team in August 2022.
Marius has a background from the insure-tech industry, mainly with the automotive sector, as a Product Specialist working with product management and delivery to the Nordics.
He holds a law-degree, and a MSc in environmental and climate studies.
Mark has been an LWG Auditor since 2005 and is a member of the LWG Technical Sub-Group.
He has been instrumental in the development of the LWG Audit Standards. Mark is an IEMA-qualified Principle Environmental Auditor.
Mark has qualifications in Environmental Management, Leather Technology and Business and has worked in the leather industry for over 30 years.
Olivia first joined the LWG team in August 2022 as a Team Assistant to the Marketing and Engagement department. In her role as Sustainability Associate, Olivia supports on the various traceability and chain of custody workstreams.
Prior to joining LWG, Olivia had a background in secondary education where she became a qualified Geography teacher. Olivia holds a First-Class BSc Geography degree from Lancaster University where she specialized in ecology, conservation, and spatial analysis.
Job Titles:
- Director of Standards & Assurance
As of March 2022, Stuart Cranfield joined the LWG team to head up Standards and Assurance for Leather Working Group.
Stuart joined us after spending 36 years at Clarks, working across multiple different locations and functions.
In his previous role, Stuart was central in establishing and managing the social audit program at Clarks and has taken active roles in several multi-stakeholder initiatives including SLCP, CGF SSCI and BSI PAS24000.
Job Titles:
- Technologist
- Nati Consulting Services
Viswanathan Munusamy is a qualified leather technologist with experience in leather manufacturing, cleaner tanning technologies, tannery effluent treatment including zero liquid discharge systems, occupational safety and health aspects and social aspects. He has been working on environmental issues within the leather industry for the last 20 years, including 12 years in various UNIDO projects. He also served in the Indian Leather Industry Foundation (ILIFO) in various positions.
Viswanathan has played a key role in implementing several projects on effluent treatment, cleaner technologies and OSH improvements in tanneries in India and neighbouring countries. He is also a Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) Certified Energy Manager, Lead Auditor for ISO14001 and OHSAS 18001 Management Systems.
He is now a LWG Approved Auditor since October 2017. To check Viswanathan's availability for an audit, please click the link here to send Viswanathan an e-mail: mviswanathan@outlook.com